Several distributors have complained about a shortage of RON95 petrol over recent days.

Many stations run out of RON95

Despite the Ministry of Industry and Trade's claim that there is enough RON95 in Vietnam, many petrol stations in Hanoi have run out of RON95.

At least two fuel stations of the Military Petroleum Corporation have hung a sign stating that they no longer sell RON95. According to the employees, they have been out of RON95 for three days. They were told that the fuel would be refilled in the next one or two days but the reality on the ground may be different.

Tran Nam Hai, a resident at Linh Dam Urban area in Hanoi, said he hadn't been able to find a station that still had RON 95. "I've gone to three stations and they all ran out of RON95," he said.

The shortage was caused by high world fuel prices. Vietnam has to import RON95 and Dung Quat Refinery Plan cannot meet domestic demand. Since the distributors are not allowed to increase fuel prices, many fear that they will face huge losses.

Cao Hoai Duong, director of PVOil, also worried that they would incur losses if they import RON95 during this time, saying that the government management has many shortcomings. RON95 accounts for 70% of their total volume of fuel supplied to the market.

Nghi Son Refinery Plant had some technical issues and halted operation. South Korean refinery plants will also halt the operation for maintenance so their sources have declined.

Lao Dong/Dtinews